So, this story is set in a XIXth-century-ish fantasy kingdom, that is in many aspects very similar to France. My question is: do you think these character names would work for an English-speaking reader? Or are they too hard to pronounce? Inspector Legrand Anne Lafauve Lord Thomas Balthus (nobility title: Duke D'Armagnac) Celine Forestier Zizou Moustique Florine Boucher Timothy Forgeron Apolline Sèvres Lord Baccus Golliard (nobility title: Baron D'Arthuy) Princess Agathe de Lyonesse Princess Selène de Lyonesse
French is similar enough to English that I don't think most people would have too much trouble. Especially since most (all?) of these names are actual names that people have in real life. I think the problem with 'funny sounding' names is when the names are completely made up and so nobody but the author has a frame of reference for how to pronounce them. For instance most people could guess that 'Boucher' sounds like 'butcher' or 'boo-share' or something similar. They could sound it out. Nobody can guess what 'Sx'andeyzmquoisa' is supposed to sound like.
They sound just fine to me. Personally I didn't have trouble reading them. Even the last names are easy enough to sound out - and it's not often one uses last names, anyway, so readers shouldn't have too much of an issue. One of my teachers pronounced it "bush-ee." Didn't know how that works but whatever. Her name.
Well, I didn't have any trouble pronouncing the names. But with any names, people will pronounce them the way they believe them to be said.
No problems for me. I found them fairly easy to read and at least they aren't just a string of constonants or overly long and hard to pronounce.
I think the names are good. They look like they will stick in the reader's mind, which is much more important than whether the reader will be able to pronounce them. After all, your readers won't be reading them aloud anyway, and the correct pronunciation will have nothing to do with whether the reader enjoys your story. As an adolescent, I read all of Agatha Christie's books featuring Hercule Poirot (ehr KYOOL PWA rho). I enjoyed them immensely even though the entire time I thought his name was pronounced HEHR kyu lee POY rot. Pronunciation doesn't really matter when the reader is just reading it to themselves.
In French you don't pronounce the last letter of most words as you do in English. You act as if the R isn't present and pronounce the word as BOO-Shey. The names aren't difficult to pronounce. French is a common enough language and it's not like you're going to call them by their full name throughout the entire book.
